PYDIRAMU, SENIOR DEVELOPER, CEGEDIM 
I lost my father when I was 11 years old. My mother worked very hard to bring me up. During of my school days, I stayed in a Government hostel for Physically challenged. When all other children were playing at that age, I had already taken up the responsibility of washing my own clothes, cleaning my plates, etc. at a tender age of 5years.
I went into a regular school which was about 0.25 km from the hostel. With no transport facilities to the school and back home, I had to scroll by the road every day to attend classes. Often, my hands and clothes used to be soiled by the time I reached school. At school, there were new set of challenges to face. I was especially disappointed when I was not involved in extra-curricular activities like sports and drills. But few of us- physically disabled friends, came together and played Cricket and Kabaddi which really brought us some happiness in our lives.
After school I went on to do my diploma in Computer Science in Mysore. During my second year, I had serious financial crisis and I had to discontinue my studies. Again with the help of few of my friends' parents, I continued and successfully finished my diploma. After I finished my education, I started looking for a job. I had too many questions in my mind. What kind of a job will be suitable for me? Would my abilities match the industry expectation? Even if I got the interview call, how will I attend the interview if there were no wheel chairs? If I get the job, how will I go if the company is not barrier free to enable me to use the wheel chair?
My first job was as a Data Entry Operator. And that is where I took every opportunity to learn. I learnt Corel Draw and other softwares. Since the salary was not enough, I took up a job as a Computer Lab assistant cum Lecturer in an institution and continued my part-time jobs in the evening. I self-learnt Autocad and taught the same to my students. I was also a freelance Artificial Intelligence programmer, a knowledge I picked up while learning Autocad. I slowly began to develop self-confidence.
It was my room mate who pushed me to come to Bangalore, because he thought I could get better jobs here. By then some of my students had already started working in BEL and were in BEL quarters. I lived with them for a brief period while I was searching for the job. I went to APD looking for a job and they referred me to EnAble India. That was how I met Shanti ma'm and got enrolled into a training in EnAble India. There I was trained in Unix and SQL, and was placed in Aztec (now Cegedim) as a trainee. I was also given a wheel chair to use at my workplace. I also improved my communication skills and dressing sense. From then onwards, my life changed.
EnAble india has not just given me a job training, or made me the breadwinner of my family, but also taught me to lead a dignified life. Shanti and Dipesh are my gods who made me a successful citizen of this society.Cegedim has made its office accessible by laying down ramps, having elevators and rest rooms for persons with disability. When I joined Cegedim I had only a diploma certificate and 4 years of teaching experience. I now have successfully completed my bachelors degree in Computer Science too. Slowly I started learning about various products and applications used within the company.
When I first joined Cegedim, everybody was sympathetic towards me because of my disability and I was very uncomfortable with that attitude. I slowly tried to socialize with them. I worked very hard to prove that I am an equal competitor and their sympathetic attitude slowly vanished. I won an award as the Most Valued Peer of the year during 2006 and that was the most valuable and memorable moment for me in this organization. I was the first person among 80 people in my department to complete the product certification and this earned me a lot of respect within the company. I was appreciated by the Director and my US managers. Many approached me with their doubts and questions and I felt like a hero. My team leader was proud to have me in his team! I got promoted from being a Associate Developer to Senior Developer to Senior Development Engineer.
I also learnt playing Table Tennis at Cegedim which I am very passionate about. I have won a bronze medal in IWAS world Championship conducted in 2009. Besides Table Tennis, I am also interested in playing Chess and Carrom. I won the Carrom championship conducted at Cegedim in 2008.
Today, I am quite settled in life. I am happily married, have a cute kid and able to take good care of my family. I now want to reach a state where I can start helping out many more people like me, just like how Shanti ma'm is doing!
I lost my father when I was 11 years old. My mother worked very hard to bring me up. During of my school days, I stayed in a Government hostel for Physically challenged. When all other children were playing at that age, I had already taken up the responsibility of washing my own clothes, cleaning my plates, etc. at a tender age of 5years.I went into a regular school which was about 0.25 km from the hostel. With no transport facilities to the school and back home, I had to scroll by the road every day to attend classes. Often, my hands and clothes used to be soiled by the time I reached school. At school, there were new set of challenges to face. I was especially disappointed when I was not involved in extra-curricular activities like sports and drills. But few of us- physically disabled friends, came together and played Cricket and Kabaddi which really brought us some happiness in our lives.
After school I went on to do my diploma in Computer Science in Mysore. During my second year, I had serious financial crisis and I had to discontinue my studies. Again with the help of few of my friends' parents, I continued and successfully finished my diploma. After I finished my education, I started looking for a job. I had too many questions in my mind. What kind of a job will be suitable for me? Would my abilities match the industry expectation? Even if I got the interview call, how will I attend the interview if there were no wheel chairs? If I get the job, how will I go if the company is not barrier free to enable me to use the wheel chair?
My first job was as a Data Entry Operator. And that is where I took every opportunity to learn. I learnt Corel Draw and other softwares. Since the salary was not enough, I took up a job as a Computer Lab assistant cum Lecturer in an institution and continued my part-time jobs in the evening. I self-learnt Autocad and taught the same to my students. I was also a freelance Artificial Intelligence programmer, a knowledge I picked up while learning Autocad. I slowly began to develop self-confidence.
It was my room mate who pushed me to come to Bangalore, because he thought I could get better jobs here. By then some of my students had already started working in BEL and were in BEL quarters. I lived with them for a brief period while I was searching for the job. I went to APD looking for a job and they referred me to EnAble India. That was how I met Shanti ma'm and got enrolled into a training in EnAble India. There I was trained in Unix and SQL, and was placed in Aztec (now Cegedim) as a trainee. I was also given a wheel chair to use at my workplace. I also improved my communication skills and dressing sense. From then onwards, my life changed.
EnAble india has not just given me a job training, or made me the breadwinner of my family, but also taught me to lead a dignified life. Shanti and Dipesh are my gods who made me a successful citizen of this society.Cegedim has made its office accessible by laying down ramps, having elevators and rest rooms for persons with disability. When I joined Cegedim I had only a diploma certificate and 4 years of teaching experience. I now have successfully completed my bachelors degree in Computer Science too. Slowly I started learning about various products and applications used within the company.
When I first joined Cegedim, everybody was sympathetic towards me because of my disability and I was very uncomfortable with that attitude. I slowly tried to socialize with them. I worked very hard to prove that I am an equal competitor and their sympathetic attitude slowly vanished. I won an award as the Most Valued Peer of the year during 2006 and that was the most valuable and memorable moment for me in this organization. I was the first person among 80 people in my department to complete the product certification and this earned me a lot of respect within the company. I was appreciated by the Director and my US managers. Many approached me with their doubts and questions and I felt like a hero. My team leader was proud to have me in his team! I got promoted from being a Associate Developer to Senior Developer to Senior Development Engineer.
I also learnt playing Table Tennis at Cegedim which I am very passionate about. I have won a bronze medal in IWAS world Championship conducted in 2009. Besides Table Tennis, I am also interested in playing Chess and Carrom. I won the Carrom championship conducted at Cegedim in 2008.
Today, I am quite settled in life. I am happily married, have a cute kid and able to take good care of my family. I now want to reach a state where I can start helping out many more people like me, just like how Shanti ma'm is doing!
SHANTA KUMARI, CCTV OPERATOR, ITC WINDSOR
Shanta Kumari works in ITC Windsor as CCTV Operator. Initially, she did not know how to use the computer which was so important for her job. She put in extra efforts to learn computers and within few months picked up the skills needed to do her job well. The company was happy with her performance and she was involved in all security activities from the front end as well as the back end areas.
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